


Clever Like a Fox

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Series: Adrien AUGreste 2020 [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Friendship, Gen, No Angst, No Plot/Plotless, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Post-Reveal Pre-Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Snake Noir - Freeform, Superhero Patrol (Miraculous Ladybug)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25776091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: A few years down the line and while the face of the enemy has changed, the ones who fight for what's right haven't. Heroes once thought retired return to the fold, leading to Rena Rouge sharing a patrol with Snake Noir. It might be a quiet night, but Alya always has something to say - in the mask, or out of it.
Series: Adrien AUGreste 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869955
Comments: 18
Kudos: 97





	Clever Like a Fox

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my first of four entries for Adrien AUGreste! This will be the final part of my six-month adventure with daily prompts, starting with Marinette March. I had originally intended to do the full month, but at this point I'm too exhausted to do a long-form fic like that again. So instead I'll be posting four one shots and labeling them all as part of the Adrien AUGreste 2020 series. Be sure to subscribe to it if you want to read them. Or you could just pop in on Fridays, when I'll be posting them!
> 
> Now, the week's prompt was Snake Noir, and the daily prompts I used were Oblivious, Civilian, and Unify. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and stop by to read the remaining parts in the series!

Years passed for Ladybug and Chat Noir. Circumstances changed, as they often do - Hawkmoth was gone and another villain emerged from the woodwork to make sure the two of them didn’t get too much of a vacation. Of course, with the fall of Hawkmoth, that opened up opportunities that had been closed for far too long. 

When the villain made themselves known a second time, they weren’t just facing Ladybug and Chat Noir. Carapace and Rena Rouge had joined them - this time, on a much more permanent basis. After all, Marinette had argued that the kwami had been locked up for too long. They needed to see the world, be with people, if they were going to be effective.

Which was part of the reason it wasn’t Chat Noir and Rena Rouge on patrol for tonight, but rather _Snake Noir_ and Rena Rouge. Neither was the other’s ideal partner for patrol, but Ladybug could only be in one place at a time and she was busy tonight working on her piece for the summer fashion show, her big debut in the industry.

And Adrien intended to be there… as supportive as a friend could be.

“So… what’s on your mind, big cat?”

Snake Noir looked over at Rena Rouge, her back against a section of wall facing him, laying along the edge of the building that he was dangling his legs over. She was watching him curiously. 

“Nothing much, I guess,” he said with a sigh. 

The silence stretched on, awkward and uncomfortable. It was at this moment that he realized that of their little group of friends, he spent the least time with Alya. With the two of them, it had always felt more like they were the friends of friends rather than being close themselves. 

“Nino been up to anything recently?” He retreated to safe, common ground.

“He’s your best bud as well as my fiance,” Rena said with a raised eyebrow. “Something tells me you’ve got just as good a scoop on him as I do.” 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Snake Noir picked up a small rock that was on the roof and turned it over in his hands before dropping it into the empty street below. 

Another stretch of silence passed between them, ended only when Rena sighed loudly and stood up.

“Okay, big cat, how about you help me out with the Ladyblog?”

“What?” He looked up at her, a confused look on his face. “Do you want to drop your transformation and have me give an interview?”

“No, don’t be crazy,” Rena said, waving with her hand as if she could physically brush away the idea. “It is too late in the day for an interview to not look fake. But!” She grinned and raised a finger. “If the Ladyblogger just so happened to spot two patrolling heroes during her nighttime jog, I’m sure they would love to give their favorite journalist a selfie.”

“Oh would they now?” Snake Noir smirked despite himself. “Sounds awfully generous of them. Especially Rena Rouge since she’d have to be in two places at once.”

Rena Rouge made a disapproving noise. “Poor, poor Chat. Your mind is closed to the possibilities.”

Snake Noir raised an eyebrow at her. “That so?”

“Yes. What you don’t realize is that I don’t need to be in two places at once. I just need to look like I am.” She grinned and pulled out her flute, giving it a twirl.

Snake Noir frowned. “I don’t know… Ladybug doesn’t like us abusing our powers like that.”

“It's not like we have a timer to worry about.” Rena rolled her eyes. “Besides this helps throw people off my scent. Otherwise, having no foxy hero pics taken by me on the blog looks supes suspicious.”

“Hm… alright, I guess,” Snake Noir conceded and stood up. “Where do you want to have this spontaneous photo op take place?”

“That’s the tricky question.” Rena Rouge hummed in thought and tapped at her chin. “Somewhere that looks like I could have been just passing through, with enough light for the photo, and empty enough that there won’t be anyone around to poke holes in my story.”

It would take ten minutes of combing through the city before she found her perfect spot, but Snake Noir didn’t mind. Years of modeling had given him a good eye for ideal photoshoot locations and eventually it was him that found the ideal place for their little deception. 

Rena pulled her phone out from one of her suit’s magic pockets and set it up against a wall. The soft notes of her flute hung in the air before feeling almost like they condensed and pulled together until they formed a perfect likeness of her civilian identity. Specifically, an Alya that was all dressed up for a jog. Maybe a little too much, but no doubt she was trying to sell the story as best she could.

The illusionary Ladyblogger went from having a blank expression and standing passively to excitement lighting up her eyes, a wide grin splitting her face. She became slightly crouched as if she was caught in the middle of an excited bouncing in place. 

“Okay big cat,” Rena the real said, “put those modeling instincts to good use and give me something that’ll make the Ladyblog _sizzle_.”

“Sizzle, huh?” Snake Noir let himself smile just enough that he knew the small fangs granted to him by his transformation would peek through. He gave the camera a hungry look, the one that his photographers had been asking for more and more these days.

Once the phone had taken a few pictures, Rena lunged forward and eagerly looked through them. The fake Alya turned to smoke and vanished. Her eyebrows rose high up her forehead.

“Oh wow. That’s gonna get the comments section talking, big cat.” She looked up at him and grinned knowingly. “I’m starting to get why M has been such a big fan of your more recent photoshoots.”

His cheeks turned red. “I’m sure she just appreciates them for the fashion.”

“Yeah, sure, if you say so. Not a whole lot of, ah, _fashion_ on display when it comes to your underwear line though.” Her grin turned downright lecherous. “A lot of something else though.”

Snake Noir made a strangled sort of sound as his mind baked from the heat of his blush. Ladybug had photos of _that_ shoot up in her room?

“Come on,” Rena said with a chuckle. “Let’s get back to patrol.”

A few minutes later and they were up somewhere high again, about as secluded as they were before. Really, at this point, they couldn’t even call them patrols. Even when he was with Ladybug (his heart did a backflip as he remembered her and the recent revelation), patrols tended to be just wandering the city or talking the night away.

“Looks like you need to get your mind off things.” Rena Rouge crossed her arms, a teasing look in her eyes. “At least until you get home.” She rested her chin on he palm and stared down at him.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Snake Noir muttered. A little more loudly, he asked, “What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, that brush with the Ladyblogger got me thinking - how would _you_ use your powers in day to day life? Assuming you could manage it discreetly?”

“Uh… hm…” Snake Noir rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about it. Destruction was a bit dangerous to use in his day to day life.

“Let me give you some more examples while you run that through your head.” She held up her hand a raised a finger with each point. “Photo ops, like you saw. Recreating stuff. Enhanced stories and hot gossip. Party favors.”

“Well, I’m not sure how much I could use cataclysm for normal stuff, but I bet I could get a lot of mileage out of Second Chance.”

“Ooo, lots of opportunities there. Although it only goes back, what? Five minutes?”

“Yeah. But! There is plenty of stuff that would be under five minutes that I could use it for. Especially if it is just casual use.”

“Go on,” Rena said as he paused. 

“Well… cooking for starters.”

“I thought you said it only lasts five minutes?”

“Which is about how long it takes for me to mess up a given recipe.”

Rena laughed in surprise and shook her head. “You two are a perfect match, I swear.”

He cleared his throat nervously. “A-anyway. I’d also practice jokes - see which ones land, which ones don’t.”

“Make yourself seem funnier than you are, hm?”

“I’m already funny, but there is always room for improvement.”

“Fair enough.” Rena had a thoughtful expression on her face as she tapped her chin. “You know, there is one more thing you could practice now that I’m thinking about it.”

“And what’s that?”

“How exactly you’re going to ask Ladybug out on a date.”


End file.
